Crank-E
Crank-E was a heavyweight robot which competed in Series 9 of Robot Wars. It was the successor to Kill-E-Crank-E, built by Robin Herrick of the Cold Fusion Team. However, after encountering Aftershock in its Group Battle, it was quickly immobilised and eliminated. After Series 9, the team updated Crank-E with new weapons and armour, but it was not ready to apply for Series 10. Design Built over two months, Crank-E was constructed from high-performance structural steel and wear plate, and runs on a two-wheel drive, which makes the robot invertible. Its weapon was a 22kg vertical asymmetric spinner consisting of four hardened steel bars. The weapon rotated at 6000rpm to deliver a tip speed of 223mph. Its front armour was curved inwards to form a front shield, designed to make the robot 'spinner proof'. Crank-E was decorated with googly eyes. The insides of Crank-E were lined with aluminium foil tape, to protect the robot from the flame pit. Crank-E's wheels were the same type as use in Pussycat, following on from Kill-E-Crank-E's wheels reusing material from Bodyhammer. Etymology The name Crank-E is derivative of the robot's predecessor Kill-E-Crank-E, which was in turn inspired by the Scottish Highland town of Killiecrankie, where a famous battle took place in 1689, also referencing the "crank" shape of the original machine which remained loosely intact with Crank-E. Robin Herrick notes that as Crank-E evolved the design of Kill-E-Crank-E forwards, he wished to 'evolve the name backwards' by shortening Kill-E-Crank-E to just Crank-E, a conscious move to differentiate the two machines. Robot History Series 9 Crank-E competed in Heat 1, facing a new machine from a Grand Finalist team, Aftershock, as well as Sabretooth and TMHWK in their group battle. It was going to face against Carbide, Crackers 'n' Smash and Meggamouse in Heat 5 but it was not finished in time and swapped heats with Trolley Rage. However, when the battle started, Crank-E made a fatal mistake straight away by targeting Aftershock before its spinner had reached high speeds, and with TMHWK blocking its escape route, Aftershock threw Crank-E into the air, causing shards to fly from the machine as it landed directly on its face. This gave Aftershock the chance to launch a barrage of hits, buffeting Crank-E towards Shunt, where the two robots dealt the killer blows, taking Crank-E out of the running straight away. Panels of Crank-E were torn away from the body, and the robot was left dormant after a flip from Shunt. Aftershock pushed the immobile Crank-E over the arena spikes, where it was axed by Shunt, held aloft by a spike. There, Crank-E was joined by the beaten TMHWK, and cease was called. Humorously, the arena spike next to Crank-E fell out of its position, but Aftershock and Sabretooth progressed, while Crank-E was eliminated. Results |} Series Record cranke enter the arena s9.png|Crank-E entering the arena cranke heroshot s9.png|Crank-E enters the arena Crank-e-team.jpg|Crank-E with its team NOTE: This refers to the performance record of Robin Herrick alone Trivia *Crank-E's VT, which would go unused on television, saw Robin and Matthew Herrick, and Isaac Potts, playing musical instruments on the beachhttps://www.facebook.com/UKRobotWars/videos/807638249400526/. *Footage of repairing Crank-E was also used during How to Build a Robot. References External Links *[http://www.robotwars.tv/competitors/season-9/week-1/crank-e/ Crank-E on the Robot Wars website] Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots with Bar Spinners Category:Robots from Scotland Category:Robots which debuted in Series 9 Category:Robots which only fought in Series 9 Category:Invertible Robots Category:Robots with Ramming Blades Category:Robots to damage the Arena Category:Robots from Highland Category:Robots which lost their only battle